Dr. Corrado Spadafora
November 2025: The Bedford Research Foundation and colleagues around the world mourn the passing of Dr. Corrado Spadafora, a pioneering scientist whose ideas reshaped modern reproductive biology.
Based at the Institute of Translational Pharmacology of the Italian National Research Council, Dr. Spadafora was the first to show that mature sperm can take up foreign DNA and deliver it to oocytes during fertilization—a discovery he named sperm-mediated gene transfer (SMGT). Initially met with skepticism, his work became the foundation for generating genetically modified animals and opened new avenues of research into how sperm influence embryo development.
Across more than forty years, he explored the role of LINE-1–encoded reverse transcriptase, the movement of extrachromosomal genetic information, and the ways these early embryonic mechanisms can be reactivated in cancer. His early reports that sperm carry epigenetic cargo beyond the paternal chromosomes—once controversial—are now widely accepted.
Dr. Spadafora was a valued visiting scientist, thought provoking colleague, and dear friend at the Bedford Research Foundation, contributing key insights to BRF’s parthenote stem cell project and presenting at the 2023 Activated Egg Symposium (video). His guidance helped advance new experiments on LINE-1 activation in early embryos and inspired a new generation of investigators.
He will be remembered for his scientific courage, his generosity as a collaborator, and the lasting impact of his ideas. His absence is a profound loss to the field, and his legacy will continue to shape the study of early development for years to come.
Dr. Paul Winig
Dr. Paul Winig, a long time collaborator and benefactor of The Foundation passed away on September 9th, 2018. Dr. Winig was a key collaborator and founder of the Foundation’s Special Program for Assisted Reproduction (SPAR) in 1996, as well as a participant in the Stem Cell Research programs that have been performed since the early 2000s at the Foundation. A dedicated Obstetrician, gynecologist and researcher, he had a passion for being “behind the scenes” for medical science.
A full obituary of his extraordinary life and accomplishments is posted on the Boston Globe’s obituary website.
We are grateful to have known him and worked with him. He will be missed.